1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates broadly to sheet item paper stacking apparatus and more particularly to sheet item paper stacking apparatus having means for moving individual sheet items both forwardly into a stacking hopper as well as at right angle thereto so as to edge align the items against the inner walls of the item hopper.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A basic problem with sheet item stacking apparatus in the past has been the difficulty in obtaining a neatly edge aligned stack of items within an item receiving hopper or bin.
Paper items, such as the type utilized for copying/printing purposes tend to be fairly flimsy, easily bent, deformed, crumpled and creased in use. They are effected by the aero dynamics of the passage of the paper through the air as the paper leaves the handling operation into the stacking area. More particularly, employed, as in electro-graphic printer/copying apparatus, the electrostatic charge deposited on the paper, even though almost totally eliminated during processing, makes paper stacking quite difficult due to the sheets adhering to one another.
Prior art stacking devices include vibrating floors within the stacking tray or bin, helical, wide threaded screw members disposed at right angles to the item flow, rotating wheels, pusher arms, etc. those which are reasonably effective are also relatively expensive and/or complex to build and maintain.
In smaller, highly efficient printer/copier devices the prior art adaptations are not cost effective. Thus, in smaller devices the copies simply outflow into a bin or tray and leave it to the operator to neatly stack the items as desired subsequent to removal from the hopper-bin.